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Even as a social media professional, I scoffed when I heard the news. Mark Zuckerberg? Person of the Year? What could possibly be wrong with the committee this year, that they would allow Mark Zuckerberg to join the ranks of presidents and other world leaders, scientists, astronauts and more? I mean, there’s just so much going on in the world, surely they haven’t actually selected the creator of Facebook as the Person of the Year?

But, indeed, they had. And as I thought more about it, it began to make sense.

Do you have a Facebook account? Today, 1 in 12 people has a Facebook account. And I’m not talking about in the US. I mean, if you poll every single person in the entire world, 1 out of every 12 of them is on Facebook. To quote Time’s article:

In less than seven years, Zuckerberg wired together a twelfth of humanity into a single network, thereby creating a social entity almost twice as large as the U.S. If Facebook were a country it would be the third largest, behind only China and India.

How’s that for perspective? If you’re still not convinced that Mark Zuckerberg deserves the honor, try this. Every time you log on to Facebook, think “I can only do this because of Mark Zuckerberg.” For me, the test is simple. If Mark Zuckerberg didn’t exist, would I have a job, or even an industry? Possibly, and maybe even probably, not.